Technical due diligence
An independent read on the software you are acquiring: what is real, what is fragile, what it costs to run, and what you would have to fix after close. Also called technology due diligence or software due diligence — one engagement, at the depth the deal needs.
The technical foundation
Every engagement covers all six areas. They are rated individually in the report, and each rating comes with what it means for valuation, integration or post-close risk.
Key-person risk and the engineering team
Where the critical knowledge lives, whether it is written down anywhere, and whether a competent engineer could maintain the system without the founder. What happens to the business if that person leaves in month three.
Architecture and scalability
Will it survive the growth in your model, or does the roadmap quietly depend on a rebuild?
Code quality and technical debt
What is real, what is fragile, and what it will cost to maintain.
What it costs to run and to fix
How hosting and infrastructure costs move as you add customers, and a dollar figure against the things that need fixing.
Security
Posture, exposure, and the gaps that become your liability at close.
Intellectual property
Do they actually own what you think you are buying?
Where AI is part of the thesis
The same engagement goes further. The six areas above assume software that behaves the same way twice. A model does not, so where AI carries the thesis the engagement adds a layer of its own: training-data provenance and rights, model reproducibility, MLOps maturity, vendor concentration and regulatory exposure.
What it costs, and how long it takes
One service at three levels of depth — a red-flag screen before LOI, a full assessment, or a deep engagement for AI-core theses and real regulatory exposure. Every engagement is a fixed fee agreed up front, and a working read takes days.
The process, the depths and the terms →
How this differs in healthcare software and fintech.
Common questions
- What is technical due diligence?
- Technical due diligence — also called technology or software due diligence — is an independent assessment of the software a buyer is acquiring: its architecture, code quality, security, intellectual property, running costs, and the team that maintains it. The output is a risk-rated view of whether the technology is an asset or a liability, and what it would cost to fix what is broken.
- Who actually does the work?
- The person you speak to on the first call is the person who reads the code, writes the report, and walks you through it. Nothing is handed to a junior team.
Have a deal in motion?
Tell me the target, what you need to know, and your timeline. I will tell you whether and how I can help, usually the same day.
Engagements are confidential and run under a mutual NDA.